410 



CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



send provisions to the place, a couple of tins with baking powder, 

 some flour, beans, and bacon. They build a log house, more 

 food comes to them from the nearest store, and business com- 

 mences to be brisk. Other log houses are built. The bar tender, 

 who at once has raised a tent in which to serve out drinks, soon 

 finds the place too small for him. The miners are thirsty, and 



SULLIVAN CREEK ROAD-HOUSE AND HOTEL. 



one day, a surprisingly short time after it has been commenced, 

 the house is ready to receive him, his few bottles, and his many 

 guests. Then a couple of girls come to the town, a dancing-hall 

 is built, so small that it hardly deserves the name carefully 

 painted over the door in bright flaring colours. Liquor is also 

 served there, and for these desires of the miners ample provision 

 is made. And people keep on flocking to the diggings, the town 

 grows and grows, road-houses and banks are built, and in the 

 course of a month a number of cabins have sprung up as if by 

 magic, and the gold which has lured all these people to the 

 place in question is the main object of conversation. The 

 people who came first have "staked in" the country for miles 

 about the hole which contains the gold ; they take in new-comers 

 to dig a hole for them at a price of one-third or even more 

 of their claim, the pick and shovel are used with goodwill, holes 

 are sunk, more gold is struck, money flows freely, and people keep 



